Dyslexia Gold (A REVIEW)

We had the opportunity to explore the possibility of dyslexia for one of our children (the youngest in 3rd grade) by using Dyslexia Gold for the past 3 months. We were given the Dyslexia Gold Full Bundle for this review which also includes other useful tools for spelling, multiplication, and reading fluency. All of these programs help a dyslexic learner become more proficient in areas they might struggle with on a daily basis because they have a hard time getting information from reading whether it be they have poor eye coordination or they just don't understand phonics (Both of these things I have noticed in our youngest son).

Dyslexia Gold homepage

Dyslexia Gold is a completely online program, and accessible anywhere that has an internet connection. It requires a log-in and a physical pair of 3-D glasses that we received in the mail. Many of the games don't require the glasses, but the main game (Engaging eyes) does. The glasses are just a pair of plastic frame glasses with two colored lenses.

3D glasses needed for "Engaging Eyes" game

The glasses themselves were a plus in that it helped this guy get excited to do the program. Alex, grade 3, liked wearing them, but did complain after a bit that they were hard to look through after wearing them for a bit.

Let me tell you a little bit about Alex. He is not officially diagnosed dyslexic. However, I have noticed as he reads he skips words, skips lines, mixes words up, and really doesn't understand how to phonetically sound things out. I suspect he may have some dyslexia happening, but I also just wonder if he just doesn't have patience and tries to hurry too much. So, this was a chance to see if something made specifically for dyslexia would help him in these areas from the comfort of our own home (no appointments or testing for us yet).

Home page for Alex. The page we see after logging him in. From here he gets to choose what he wants to work on.

So what does he play?

If he picks "Engaging Eyes" to work on...

This is the main vision training of the Dyslexia Gold bundle. This has specific games to train the eyes for focusing, tracking, and speed. One of the games (Target Practice A and B) is the one where the special glasses are needed. With engaging eyes the learner has the choice from several different games including target practice, whacking aliens as they pop up on the screen, tracking letters as they move across the screen, and keeping track of animals as they jump across the screen. There are two games suggested everyday the child logs on and plays. They are all fun and engaging games, but very repetitive. My son never got past the "Target Practice" and "Whack an alien" suggested games each time he played, so he got frustrated and often wouldn't want to play again because of the repetition. What we didn't realize was that he could have been picking the other games too, but he was just playing the suggested games each time. He also wasn't very consistent in playing daily. Engaging eyes should be done at least 10 minutes a day 4-5 days a week to see improvements.

Engaging Eyes start page. He clicks on start to get it going.

Once he is finished with the two suggested games in Engaging Eyes, he gets a sign that says "thanks for playing-see you again tomorrow!" It also shows him how he did that day, and where he's at.

If he picks "Fluency Builder"...

He would be hearing sounds of many different words and trying to build the word based on those sounds. Alex didn't play this game a lot because like I said he really doesn't like figuring out sounds for words. This didn't appeal to him at all, but I think it's a good game. I think there is great benefit from figuring out the individual sounds in words so I encouraged him to work on this a few times.

Fluency Builder game. He heard the sound and had to build the word based on the sounds.

If he picked "Spelling Tutor" to play...

In this game he would get his own sheet of paper and write 3 sentences that are dictated to him (one at a time). These 3 sentences tell a story. He would then correct it, and whichever words he got wrong he would need to write those words 3 times. I really like the idea of a child learning to spell through correcting their own work.

Spelling Tutor

If he picks the "Times Table Tutor"...

He gets to work through each times table starting with 2's, and answering each fact over and over again in different ways. The first way he'll have to answer the multiplication facts is by grouping so he can see how the groups are split up visually. Then he'll work through the facts in other engaging games. Once he has mastered one table, he gets to move onto the next.

Times Table Tutor

Alex working on the Times Table Tutor. He enjoyed this game.

Reporting. As a parent I can bring up reports to see how Alex is doing. I can see how much progress he is making, how many days he has worked, and what programs he is choosing to work on. I let him work on this independently, so this was super helpful for me to see where he is at.

A glimpse report of what is happening in all 4 programs.

Overall, I think this is a fun engaging program. I tried it myself and found that my eyes really had to stay focused to see the 3D in the right way in order to shoot the targets. It was surprising to me how lazy my own eyes were! I can only imagine how much this could help a child who has dyslexia. As for my son, I think it has been good for him, and will help  him focus on what he is reading and taking one word at a time. This program really forces the learner to slow down which is what my son needs.

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